|
Yeah, the more I think about it that's sounding like a better idea. When scheduling our meeting for this week on Friday, HE asked ME why we were meeting. And then I asked if I needed to bring anything and he said "Probably." and then didn't tell me what I needed. I expect he would contact me Wednesday like an hour before to tell me I need a bunch of poo poo printed. I don't even own a printer, never have in my life.
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 17:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 01:49 |
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:3.85%. FHA Loan is yes, I originally bought with virtually nothing down and had a high interest rate, hence my interest in refinancing now. 3.875%? You're getting hosed bad. BAD. I guarantee in addition to all the fees he's charging you he's making the 4.5% max on the spread. You're getting abused badly, walk away from this guy, or at least go talk to another mortgage broker.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 17:31
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:3.875%? You're getting hosed bad. BAD. I guarantee in addition to all the fees he's charging you he's making the 4.5% max on the spread. It was really weird, he kept "making mistakes" which was definitely a red flag, he started us at like 3.4% and then it kept slipping higher and higher because he "forgot something", landing where it is now. Our current rate from 2008 is 6.5% as first time home buyers with, as I mentioned, nothing down, so 3.8whatever% seemed like a great jump to us. edit: The more I write this down to someone else the more I realize I should have looked elsewhere a long time ago. At the time it felt like it made SENSE though. Man.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 17:40
|
|
|
skipdogg posted:3.875%? You're getting hosed bad. BAD. I guarantee in addition to all the fees he's charging you he's making the 4.5% max on the spread. What's a good rate on an FHA 30 year right now? I'm beginning the process of getting approved for an FHA loan at 3.25%.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 18:08
|
|
|
caiman posted:What's a good rate on an FHA 30 year right now? I'm beginning the process of getting approved for an FHA loan at 3.25%. 3.25% is a pretty fair rate. The mortgage broker is probably going to make 3% on that deal, so if they're covering any fees for you, it's a fair deal. 3.25% is paying 3%, but 3.125 is only paying 0.25% so 3.25% is what I would expect from a pretty fair mortgage broker without you buying the rate down. If you bring some money to the table I'm seeing 3.00% as possible.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 19:17
|
|
|
Cool. Another FHA question: how long will I have to pay PMI? Does it cease once I've paid a certain percentage of the principal? Will I just one day look at my mortgage bill and see a lower amount due?
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 19:33
|
|
|
caiman posted:Cool. Another FHA question: how long will I have to pay PMI? Does it cease once I've paid a certain percentage of the principal? Will I just one day look at my mortgage bill and see a lower amount due? Yes and Yes quote:The Homeowner's Protection Act of 1998 provides automatic cancellation of PMI once a homeowner has reached 22 percent equity in his home based on the original purchase price. The automatic cancellation also requires that the homeowner has been current on payments at least an entire year. You can also call your bank at 20% equity and have them take it off before it automatically falls off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 19:42
|
|
|
Oh man, in the last 30 minutes I've gotten 3 calls on my cell phone and 2 voicemails from the mortgage guy. The first was canceling our meeting for Wednesday, and it was clear he hadn't ready any of my recent emails yet. The second voicemail was a slightly less calm and collected voicemail saying I need to call him immediately so we can address all my concerns, because his interpretation of my email to him saying that I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing and I felt like they were dropping the ball is that I was getting cold feet about the *concept* of refinancing. Like he didn't want to tip his hand that other refinancing options are available, or something. edit: And he just emailed me to tell me that he left me some voicemails and I should listen to them. Myrddin Emrys fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Dec 3, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:24
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:edit: And he just emailed me to tell me that he left me some voicemails and I should listen to them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:32
|
|
|
moana posted:Pick whatever method of communication is easiest for you, and then tell him that you will only be responding to that communication and nothing else. It's loving awful to have mortgage people calling you all the time, which was why I loved the agent I ended up with - he totally understood that I couldn't be on the phone and could only do emails, and he let me email him documents that he then printed out rather than have me fax things just because "that's how it's done" like my other agent wanted me to do. I've already told him exactly that at least 4 times. But yes, this guy wants me to fax him a bunch of stuff and constantly wants to talk on the phone "because that's how it's done". This guy came highly recommended too. I don't even know how to find someone else except by referral...
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:37
|
|
|
I just went to bankrate.com and picked a few of the lowest 15-yr rates to look at. Loandepot ended up being the cheapest and nicest for me but as long as it's a reputable lender you should be fine.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:40
|
|
|
Filed for HAMP with my mortgage lender, and stated that my fiancee contributes money to the household. I did not say rent or the mortgage, just that she contributes a set amount (which basically covers our condo fee, 1/2 the groceries for the month, and a little more). She earns more than me, but has her own bills to worry about. The lender is now asking for two of her pay stubs and permission to run a credit report? Does anyone know if the HAMP ruling can be based heavily on the non-mortgage holder's income?
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:15
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:I've already told him exactly that at least 4 times. But yes, this guy wants me to fax him a bunch of stuff and constantly wants to talk on the phone "because that's how it's done". This guy came highly recommended too. I don't even know how to find someone else except by referral... He wants to use the phone because emails give you record of everything he says
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:29
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:I've already told him exactly that at least 4 times. But yes, this guy wants me to fax him a bunch of stuff and constantly wants to talk on the phone "because that's how it's done". This guy came highly recommended too. I don't even know how to find someone else except by referral... It is imperative that you discover and confirm that you have an FHA loan. If you do, you may qualify for an FHA streamlined refinance. Almost any broker can handle this type of refi, but I'd recommend finding one who specializes in FHA. FHA streamline refis do not require the home be re-appraised. If you do not have an FHA loan, then I don't know about his whole "you can do this through us only because we did the original sale" thing but it still sounds bogus to me. In any event, you do not have to tolerate this guy's terrible service. It seems likely to me that he has a huge caseload and is bad at organizing his clients and taking good notes. If you absolutely have to go through his agency, then you can send a letter (like, physically) requesting a different agent and detailing the problems you've had with this guy. Send it to his boss. Don't feel even slightly bad about doing that, either. Because if this guy is doing this to you, he's certainly doing it to a dozen other people at the same time, and many of them will be like you've been: passively accepting a terrible situation and possibly winding up with a higher rate than they ought to pay, simply out of ignorance that it doesn't have to be like this.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:30
|
|
|
mono posted:He wants to use the phone because emails give you record of everything he says This. Ask your friend who referred him to you if any of this behavior is in line with what they experienced.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:40
|
|
|
Just had a talk with him. If I stop the process at this point, I have a "cancellation fee". Great.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:44
|
|
|
^^^ Dig up your paperwork and see if you agreed to that by signing a contract.caiman posted:Cool. Another FHA question: how long will I have to pay PMI? Does it cease once I've paid a certain percentage of the principal? Will I just one day look at my mortgage bill and see a lower amount due? You can use this calculator to determine the pay-off date of your PMI. Willa Rogers fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Dec 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:45
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:Just had a talk with him. If I stop the process at this point, I have a "cancellation fee". Great. Did you sign anything that would indicate that? Did you sign anything at all? I'd be surprised if you have a fee (and would challenge paying it if it is in the contract too since he has been super shady)
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:51
|
|
|
I haven't seen any paperwork much less signed anything, but he did take my credit card number when we first talked. But again - I've signed nothing. I obviously challenged him on this, and his response was that "stuff is in motion behind the scenes" and that someone has to pay for that, even if I don't want the refinance. And then said even if I hadn't signed anything, I owed it as a "good faith" thing. edit: I should add that I kinda sorta (polite-ish) reamed him out after this, since he's been failing me so utterly. He seemed a bit shell-shocked and apologized for like 30 minutes for the lovely service, he said his service is usually so great. I said if it was so great, why was there a cancellation fee, shouldn't he put his money where his mouth is? Myrddin Emrys fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Dec 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:52
|
|
|
Quick Question. My wife and I have been talking for about a year in regards to buying a house and we're definitely going to start looking in Feb/March. However, I had one interview last week and another one this Friday. If I get a new job, how problematic is that with getting a mortgage? I'm mostly trying to get a job closer to where we are looking so I can cut down my commute and potentially make more money.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:00
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:I haven't seen any paperwork much less signed anything, but he did take my credit card number when we first talked. But again - I've signed nothing. You owe him nothing and dispute the charges if he makes on on your credit card. Also, there is never a reason to give your CC number to people like this. What reasoning did he give you for that?
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:10
|
|
|
sheri posted:You owe him nothing and dispute the charges if he makes on on your credit card. "Good faith", basically. "Like a hotel". But I tried pointing out that you do that at a hotel when you check in, not when you call to find out if they have rooms available, but it's "how we do things". However, I do have a good update: Apparently my angry phone call got poo poo moving because the list of paperwork I was supposed to provide (that listed 18 separate forms - I recounted and my previous estimate earlier of 25 items included duplicates) is now down to - 1 thing. A copy of my green card. Because now he's working on my behalf to find all this paperwork instead of just giving me a list and saying good luck. Also apparently sometime in the last 4 years my condo was recertified by FEMA as being in a flood zone, so that sucks.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:16
|
|
|
Dude - sever with this clown, you're getting ripped off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:29
|
|
|
Pillowpants posted:Quick Question. It is potentially a problem. Banks typically want to see you've had the same job for at least 2 years. It is not necessarily going to totally prevent you from getting a mortgage, but it will limit your options. Your post rings another alarm bell, however. You say you're looking for a job closer to where you're looking for a house. One of the things that you need to be set on when you buy a house, is working in that area for at least the next 8+ years. Stable employment is key when you have a mortgage; you will not be able to pursue career opportunities that require you to move without risking taking a large loss from selling your house. You also will have a financial obligation that makes it much harder to get by if you spend time unemployed/between jobs. Consider carefully whether you're in a life situation where you can comfortably commit to a mortgage and a home in a specific spot for at least the next 8 to 10 years.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:37
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:It is potentially a problem. Banks typically want to see you've had the same job for at least 2 years. It is not necessarily going to totally prevent you from getting a mortgage, but it will limit your options. I'm not talking about moving far. My commute now is an hour, and it will be about the same where we want to buy a house. A company my company works directly with called me for an interview on Friday and that would make my commute shrink from an hour driving with traffic to 10 minutes driving against traffic.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 02:50
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:It is potentially a problem. Banks typically want to see you've had the same job for at least 2 years. It is not necessarily going to totally prevent you from getting a mortgage, but it will limit your options. My wife changed jobs AFTER we were pre-approved by our credit union (basically at the tail end of our house search, and right before we put in an offer) - and the only thing they needed from her was an updated pay stub showing at least one month employment before the closing. I would not recommend it (it added another layer of stress to an already stressful process), but if you'll be looking in 6 months or so, and you're wife has a steady job, I don't think it will be that big of a deal.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 04:56
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:"Good faith"
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 05:11
|
|
|
Leperflesh posted:It is potentially a problem. Banks typically want to see you've had the same job for at least 2 years. It is not necessarily going to totally prevent you from getting a mortgage, but it will limit your options. We're more concerned with your income stability, not necessarily that you've worked the same gig for forever. Depending on job/industry it can be common for people to switch employers somewhat frequently, if the job gaps are relatively minimal and you're sticking to the same job description/industry we usually don't freak out too much. We're more concerned when you're constantly jumping industries since that generally indicates you can't hold a steady job. Things get a bit trickier when you're trying to use overtime, bonus, or commission to qualify but if you're just using your base hourly/salary rate it's probably not a huge concern. As far as how long you need to be on the new job, depends on the bank and type of loan. Conventionally, we require 30 days of year to date earnings on your new pay stub for just your base hourly/salary rate. If you're trying to use bonus/OT/commission you're screwed for a while. We also look at compensating factors a lot when determining if your job history is acceptable or not - high credit scores, minimal/no late payments on credit, high levels of reserves, etc. are all things your underwriter looks at to see if we can overlook possibly weaker elements of your application.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 09:22
|
|
|
FCKGW posted:You can also call your bank at 20% equity and have them take it off before it automatically falls off. You have to pay PMI for a minimum of five years with FHA regardless of your loan balance. Some other lenders also require two years regardless of balance. Speaking of PMI, any word on a PMI being deductible extension for 2013? Obviously the home lobbying groups will want it continue, but I haven't seen any official word on it yet. With the fiscal cliff thing coming I'm wondering if this is a deduction that will be killed off.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 03:39
|
|
|
Realjones posted:You have to pay PMI for a minimum of five years with FHA regardless of your loan balance. Some other lenders also require two years regardless of balance. I haven't heard anything, but the impression I get is it's going to get killed off for 2013. My FHA loan is at 5.5% right now, but if I refinance PMI doubles eating up a huge chunk of the interest rate savings. The PMI not being tax deductible kills the deal for me. PMI would go from about 75 a month to 150 a month for me.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 04:34
|
|
|
I once had a refinance go really lovely and I insisted that communication be done over email. Gmail saved my rear end. Three months into getting jerked around the bank tried to tell me that my rate was going to be 1.5% higher than promised. When I told them that I was not going to do business with them a $450 bill appeared for all their time and effort trying to sell this poo poo to me. I walked into the district managers office with all of my emails printed out and the agent was caught in several lies, there was no denying it. He just said "I'll take care of it." and I walked away pretty pissed off at the whole ordeal because I missed out on a great rate. I don't know why any legitimate person would not want to do business over email. It's very clear and there's no confusion or bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 11:31
|
|
|
Myrddin Emrys posted:However, I do have a good update: Apparently my angry phone call got poo poo moving because the list of paperwork I was supposed to provide (that listed 18 separate forms - I recounted and my previous estimate earlier of 25 items included duplicates) is now down to - 1 thing. A copy of my green card. Because now he's working on my behalf to find all this paperwork instead of just giving me a list and saying good luck. Drop him anyway, do you think he really deserves thousands of dollars as a reward for what he's done?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 14:13
|
|
|
Citycop posted:I once had a refinance go really lovely and I insisted that communication be done over email. Gmail saved my rear end. Three months into getting jerked around the bank tried to tell me that my rate was going to be 1.5% higher than promised. When I told them that I was not going to do business with them a $450 bill appeared for all their time and effort trying to sell this poo poo to me. Seconding this. We were pretty unhappy with our lender and would send him emails detailing all of our questions about his GFEs and different loan options. He would always respond with "call me" and then proceed to weasel out of explaining why things didn't add up. In the end he did have a competitive rate so we stuck with him and eventually got him to agree in writing to credit us back 700$ towards closing costs as part of our loan deal. When closing time rolls around I look for the credit from the lender.... Sure enough it's missing. I guess he was hoping we would just forget about it but I pull up the email and forward it to him saying "so yeah you're going to credit this as we agreed on right?" I get a one word response email "yes" with the corrected closing cost statement I can only imagine how much of a killing lenders make off of people who don't pay attention or don't question when they slap fees on and weasel in higher rates and what not.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 19:42
|
|
|
Thaumaturgic posted:I can only imagine how much of a killing lenders make off of people who don't pay attention or don't question when they slap fees on and weasel in higher rates and what not. 5 to 7% of the total loan value. It's been reined in a little, during the boom if you had a really dumb customer you could make 10 %.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 19:59
|
|
|
I just got back from our inspection. I was a little disappointed to learn that our engineer/inspector not only knew the sellers but apparently helped with some of their fixes. However, everything seems to be done right so we're still going ahead. As the sellers ran a B&B for years the place was subject to commercial inspection on a regular basis and is in pretty top-notch shape overall. Both water heaters are less than 3 months old. I was glad to see several things I didn't expect but was hoping for, like the fact that the apartment has a seperate electrical panel instead of sharing with the downstairs shop. That will make splitting the meter a whole lot easier. The phone and cable/internet are already split so I won't have to worry about that, either. The sellers were there, which was very helpful because we went around with them a second time and they showed us lots of little tips about the place, like how to get the drawers out of the built-in cabinetry and how to work the hot tub. They have a huge, very organized, set of files for everything that would have come with an instruction manual and they're leaving that for us. They're also leaving touch-up paint and supplies, various sundries (plungers, fire extinguishers, etc), and a full cord of split and seasoned Alder for the smokehouse (yes!). Our Realtor was concerned about them being there, but when it was over she told them they need to write a manual to give to other sellers because they were very helpful.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 23:33
|
|
|
Advent Horizon posted:I just got back from our inspection. I was a little disappointed to learn that our engineer/inspector not only knew the sellers but apparently helped with some of their fixes. However, everything seems to be done right so we're still going ahead. As the sellers ran a B&B for years the place was subject to commercial inspection on a regular basis and is in pretty top-notch shape overall. Both water heaters are less than 3 months old. What they didn't tell you was there's a ghost haunting the building thirsty for the blood of a new homeowner... (Glad to hear everything went well!)
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 23:46
|
|
|
Advent Horizon posted:I just got back from our inspection. I was a little disappointed to learn that our engineer/inspector not only knew the sellers but apparently helped with some of their fixes. However, everything seems to be done right so we're still going ahead. It sounds like you're reasonably happy about the outcome, but this should be a big red flag. The inspector I used for our home purchase said that he would never put himself in a position where there was such an obvious conflict of interest. It's not because he's afraid that he might become dishonest - it's just not a good place for an honest inspector to be. If something goes wrong, he's going to end up pissing off one of his clients, if not both. He's basically inspecting his own work! Of course he isn't going to find anything wrong with it. If he did, he'd have to disclose it to the people he did it for - or he'd have to lie to you and hope you don't notice. Reputation is king for inspectors. The inspector we used told us we had a problem with one of the toilets. He worked as a plumber in addition to being an inspector, but he flat out refused to do the work, because he said it presented a clear ethical problem - to point out necessary fixes and also be the fixer. He put a firewall between his different business ventures. I'm not saying your guy is crooked, but there's an obvious conflict of interest here. And even though the place looks great, - you're not an inspector. You have no idea!
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 03:12
|
|
|
I agree, and I'd be more concerned if the fixes weren't really minor stuff like sealing drywall gaps in the garage and putting a heat shield on a wall near the furnace exhaust duct. We just have a very limited pool of people here in town so you kind of have to roll with what you've got. He's the only engineer who does home inspections in town. Since we're off the road system that means it's him or somebody who inspects houses after work and only had to take an online test to get their certificate (there are two of those here). From talking with the sellers it sounded like the city made them do an almost major remodel when they opened the B&B to bring everything up to commercial use specs, and all that work was inspected by the city at the time. Apparently the first owner was also a contractor so he designed everything for easy access, which means some of the built in cabinetry was to disguise stuff he wanted to get at. I could *almost* replumb the entire house without removing any drywall. I don't know if this is me talking myself up or what, though. Funny how that works.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 04:04
|
|
|
The rule of thumb I used to hear for buying a house possibly making sense was 7 years, has this changed because of how low mortgage rates are right now? I'm getting jumped on for wanting to rent when I'm planning to live in one place only 4 years, some people whose opinion I respect in other ways are telling me renting is throwing money away and 3 years is the new rule of thumb where buying makes more sense. I'm also getting "renting is an expense, buying is an investment" thrown at me and it's annoying.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 05:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 01:49 |
|
|
Everything everybody tells you is bullshit and rules of thumb are useless. You just have to run the numbers for your own situation. The hard part is knowing what your house will be worth in the future, because that depends on the area and on other stuff like the Fates. There's a low likelihood of coming out ahead in the shorter term (3-7 years) because of the high transaction costs when you buy and sell. And of course there are non-financial considerations like how you feel about owning a house and how much you like the flexibility of renting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 05:26
|
|